Now it's Sir Marko's turn to face his darker half...
Nerd By Northwest #355 - "Mirror Double Debauchery"
(Click on the image to see the full-size version)
Today's strip was inspired mostly by two television series. The first, which I already mentioned in the last strip, was the original series Star Trek (though I gotta admit the later 'Deep Space Nine' and 'Enterprise' spinoffs did interesting treatment of the Star Trek mirror universe too). But the second source of inspiration was a classic and a bit obscure episode of the British series "Red Dwarf"... specifically, the episode "Demons & Angels" where the Red Dwarf crew meet both the highest and lowest versions of themselves. In that episode, Lister meets the 'lowest' version of his hologram crewmate Rimmer, to hilarious effect:
The shock value in that episode, more-so than the specific appearance of evil Rimmer, was ultimately what I was trying to go for (though I admit it did inspire me at the last minute to add garters & stockings to the evil Sir Marko 😏). Still, I remain a bit conflicted... did I go too far (I am trying to keep it rated-PG), or not nearly far enough? Given all the strange things I see some people wearing on social media or on my occasional trips to the USA, who knows where the line really is anymore? By now this might as well be Disney-level fare!
All that said, evil Sir Marko's armor breastplate with the exposed midriff is my own nod to so many ladies' complaints about the impracticality of the chainmail bikinis and other examples of skimpy women's armor that has been so common in fantasy art over the years. So here you go ladies... are we even now? 😉
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